Staffan Scheja
Staffan Scheja is Professor and Adviser to the vice-chancellor at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
Staffan Scheja made his debut as pianist at fourteen with conductor Herbert Blomstedt and the Swedish Radio Orchestra. After studies for Prof. Gunnar Hallhagen at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, he was accepted to the Juilliard School in New York, studying with Rosina Lhevinne, Ilona Kabos and Ania Dorfmann.
In 1975 he received the highest prize in the Busoni International Competition. Since then he has given concerts all over the world with conductors such as sir Simon Rattle, David Zinman, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sixten Ehrling, Okko Kamu and with orchestras such as the Munich Philharmonic, the French Radio Orchestra in Paris, the NHK in Tokyo, the English Chamber Orchestra and with all the major Scandinavian orchestras.
He has made numerous recordings with EMI, BIS, Vanguard and LCM and has received two Swedish Grammy Awards.
In 1995 Staffan Scheja received the Royal medal ”Litteris et Artibus” for prominent artistic achievements.
Staffan Scheja is a frequent adjudicator in competitions such as Queen Elisabeth, Sendai, Clara Haskil and Stanislav Neuhaus.
He is the founder and artistic director of the Gotland Chamber Music Festival on the island of Gotland in the Baltic sea and resides in Stockholm.
He is also vice chairman of the Royal Academy of Music in Sweden.
Bobo Stenson
Bobo Stenson started playing the piano at the age of seven.
He is a classically trained pianist who, from an early age, played in various groups together with Lars Färnlöf, Sven Åke Johansson and Staffan Abeleen, in his home town of Västerås, Sweden.
Börje Fredriksson brought him into his quartet, which also included Palle Danielsson and Fredrik Norén.
After completing upper secondary school, Stenson worked in Paris for a short period of time. However, he preferred to spend his time playing at the Blue Note Club in the city, together with Manfred Schoof and Gunter Hampel, among others.
He began studies in Musicology, which he later abandoned in order to start a professional career as a musician.
He went on tour in Germany, together with Palle Danielsson and Rune Carlsson, and played with guest soloists such as Benny Bailey and Dexter Gordon.
In the 1970s, Stenson formed a trio together with Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen. The trio was later expanded to include Jan Garbarek. In 1970, he founded the group Rena Rama, together with Bengt Berger and Palle Danielsson – a group whose musical inspiration derived from Africa, India, and the Balkan countries. Lennart Åberg was also a member of this group. The group kept on playing for twenty years. Since 1988, Stenson has been a part of Charles Lloyd’s “European Quartet”, and he has also played with Stan Getz.
He has also played in Tomasz Stańko’s groups, and in Lars Danielsson’s quartet.
The Bobo Stenson Trio has now been in existence for almost 40 years, and in 2013, the trio also included Anders Jormin (bass) and Jon Fält (drums).
In 2006, he received the Litteris et Artibus medal.
Nathalie Loriers
Nathalie Loriers was born in Namur, Belgium, and was trained in classical piano from an early age. However, her interest in jazz soon took over, and at a young age she was awarded first prize in Jazz and Harmony studies at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels.
At the Brussels Jazz Rally, she was voted “Best Young Soloist”.
She has toured all over the world, and has collaborated with musicians such as Lee Konitz,
Toots Thielemans, Al Levitt and Philippe Aerts.
In 2000, she was awarded the prestigious accolade EURO DJANGO.
She has recorded a multitude of prize-winning CDs, and has explored collaborations with oriental-style musicians.
Since 2002, she has performed as a pianist with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, and she has been teaching at the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels since 1994.
She also gives master classes at the Summer Academy in Libramont.
